Picture of the Day

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*** A Place To Ponder ***

Photograph by Warachai Krengwirat

Seen here is a beautiful outlook point at Sai-Thong National Park in Chaiyaphum province, Thailand. For those not too afraid of heights, this would be an amazing place to reflect and ponder or to just soak in the beauty of our planet.

According to Thailand's Department of National Parks website, this outlook is known as Pha Hum Huet and is a popular destination for hikers. Sai Thong National Park is located in the Pung Huei Mountain range and includes the Na Yang Gluk Conservation Forest. The national park was designated on the 30th December 1992, with total area of 319 km2.

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*** AIRPLANE VIEW OF ***
ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER

Photograph by JAMES KASTNER

In this outstanding capture by James Kastner, we see the famous Manhattan skyline, with the now-completed One World Trade Center towering over everything. The photograph was taken from an airplane window as James traveled from Newark to Miami. The image was posted by Kastner to Reddit where it has been viewed almost 175,000 times.

The photo is also part of Kastner's ongoing photo series entitled Life After 10,000, a daily photo project Kastner began after reaching 10,000 days of age (or 27.38 years). This photo was day 10,602 (he's current on day 10,615).

At 1,776 feet tall, the 104-story One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world by pinnacle height. The symbolic 1,776 ft height is in reference to the year of the United States Declaration of Independence. In the foreground you can also see New Jersey's skyline, which is still impressive despite being dwarfed by New York's.

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*** STORM'S A-BREWIN' ***

Photograph by Robert Edmonds

Storm chaser and NASA Fellow Robert Edmonds captured this jaw-dropping photo of a tornado in Loreburn, Saskatchewan, Canada. Edmonds says the storm produced multiple funnels, including the unique horizontal roll vortex at the top right, before finally producing a tornado.

If you're interested in a storm chasing tour, Edmonds is available as a private guide through his website Storm Chase Guide.

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*** A BOWL OF RAIN ***

Photograph by Eurico Zimbres

In this brilliantly timed photograph by Eurico Zimbres, we see a perfectly aligned rain cloud seeming to fill the large bowl at the National Congress of Brazil building in Brasilia. The National Congress of Brazil is the legislative body of Brazil's federal government.

As with most of the city's government buildings, the National Congress building was designed by world-renowned Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer in the modern Brazilian style. The semi-sphere on the left is the seat of the Senate, and the semi-sphere on the right is the seat of the Chamber of the Deputies. Between them are two vertical office towers.

The building is located in the middle of the Monumental Axis, main street of Brasília. In front of it there is a large lawn where demonstrations take place. On December 6, 2007, the Institute of Historic and Artistic National Heritage declared the building of the National Congress a historical heritage of the Brazilian people. The building is also among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as part of Brasilia's original urban buildings, since 1987.

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*** GATEWAY TO ANOTHER DIMENSION ***

Photograph via llamapen on Reddit

In this amazing capture, we see the famous Gateway Arch monument in St. Louis, Missouri, enshrouded in low passing clouds. The image was submitted to Reddit by user llamapen who says his father took the photograph from the 40th floor of One Metropolitan Square, a skyscraper in downtown St. Louis. At 180.7 m (593 ft) it is the tallest building in the city and the second tallest building in Missouri.

The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot (192 m) monument built in the form of a flattened catenary arch. It is the tallest man-made monument in the United States and the world's tallest arch. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, it is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and a famous symbol of St. Louis.

The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.